In the morality play An Inspector Calls, Priestley uses Eva Smith to

highlight the working classes in the patriarchal society. The post-war

audience would have been disillusioned by the irresponsible elites,
realise that following the capitalist would leads to social disruption and
tragedy.
Priestley uses the symbolism of the disinfectant which “burnt her inside
out” to show the working classes were bullied by the upper classes.
Disinfectant are used as cleaning, this shows she has been to feel dirty by
how the upper classes have treated her. The desire of cleaning herself
manifested her innocence and purity have been tainted. The word
“inside out” emphasize the disinfectant has clean herself utterly, which
would definitely tormented her during the process of suicide, creating a
pathetic sight. The blunt imagery of her death indicated how much pain
she would have experienced. The graphic imagery from Goole tells he is
not prepared to lie about the situation and cover up the harsh truth. The
elites are going to pay for what they have done.
Priestley uses Mr. Birling to highlight the selfish nature of the elites. The
is obvious in his quote “she had to go” . In the words “had to”, this
indicates working classes has no right to choose, they can only listen to
the upper classes and do what they have asked to do. Eva was a good
worker. She was trying to speak up for the fact that her salary was really
low. However, Mr. Birling refused and sacked her. Furthermore, Mr.
Birling exploited the workers in order to maintain his own financial gain,
he paid the workers a low salary, but they need to work more than the
salary worth. This shows the selfishness of the elites, and they are
indifferent to the working classes.
Priestley uses Eva’s another name “Daisy Renton” as a demonstration to
show how a women is being used and abused by the patriarchy. The
name “Renton” is euphemistic, implying she was rented out to men. Eva
changed her name after sacked by Mr. Birling. No companies or factories
want to hire her, she has nothing to do, the choice left behind was to
rent herself out as a prostitute. We can infer that “Daisy Renton” is
named as a placebo as to console herself and having a new start, though
it might be worse than it was. Ironically, the people she relies on for
financial support is the same group of people who turns her into
unemployed. It’s the patriarchal society and the elites who forced her to
do that. She is one of the victims who suffers under the patriarchal
society.
Priestley uses Eric to present woman suffers under the patriarchy. This is
evident in his quote “she was a good sport”. This is full of disrespectful to
woman: the word “sport” shows the elites treated having sex with
woman like a game, something to be enjoyed as a past-time activity for a
short time which isn’t important to them. This disregard Eva as he uses
her and dehumanises her as a sport. The elites are lustful and vicious as
they exploit woman as what they want without getting consent of the
woman.
To conclude, Priestley leave his audience criticising the unchecked power
of the elites. He ultimately highlights the danger if excessive agreed in
society. This becomes a universal message, relevant to humanity across
ages.